Hopstep Harmonic
by megicci
Summary: Miku's cynical view on life and Luka's need to be recognized bring them together somehow. Eventually, cyberspace threatens to encroach on their lives, and nothing is ever the same. It keeps happening! I told you about those lesbians! I TOLD YOU BRO


**A/N: This is obviously a fic based off of World's End Dancehall. Forgive me if I suck at Vocaloid fanon; I don't know much about the whole thing. Figured if I just wrote about World's End Dancehall the scope wouldn't be too large. Now get ready for...**

**Hopstep Harmonic **

**Dance I: Narcissus**

_Chapter One: Flower_

She moved the pencil from one pair of fingers to another. Class bored her. Miku Hatsune grew weary even of spinning pens; there was no challenge to it anymore. She had reached her limit in terms of speed long ago, and recently mastered the last of the tricks she'd managed to find online - her favorite classroom pastime had been sacrificed to the gods of overuse. The teacher continued ranting on about math that may as well have been grade school arithmetic. Class was boring as usual.

Something fluttered onto her desk. It was a note. Miku didn't really like getting involved in the affairs of others. She was an enigma, making it easy to conclude the note did not concern her. Even so, perhaps out of boredom, Miku covertly unfolded the note. Whatever was scribbled on there was practically illegible. It was likely one of the boys who wrote it, and furthermore, boys who appended the article. Still, she gave the effort to read the terrible handwriting while being inconspicuous, peeking from side to side without rotating her head.

The contents were just as boring as she'd expected them to be. It was pathetic how the daily grind of life robbed the other kids of their creativity and drive to do productive things. You know, other than make fun of Luka Megurine.

Miku glanced to her left. Luka sat there, her gaze boring a hole through the notes on her desk, but her mind clearly someplace else. The notes she wrote were pretty much gibberish, after all, probably due to the fact her hand was trembling.

A drop of water fell on the college-lined paper, spreading throughout the parchment. Miku couldn't decide if Luka was drooling or crying, though it was most likely the latter, considering the beaten piece of paper in Miku's hand.

'The other day, I saw Luka making out with a fatass bulldyke! What a loser!'

The addenda to this note included more derogatory terms relating to homosexuals, making lesbians out to be some rare breed of sexual deviant that specialized in cannibalism and logging trees. It was all rather stupid and shallow. Miku wondered how her desk-neighbor could possibly be affected by something so dumb. It was disheartening. She would not lunge at some possible weakness she perceived in Luka, though; that by itself wasn't a bad thing,

Miku tore the note in half on a whim. The boy sitting next to her scowled for a split second before realizing that the teal-haired girl was watching. He proceeded to settle his facial expression into one of total forced neutrality. She smirked. No one really wanted to get involved with the mysterious girl who kept even her closest friends at arm's length, and that gave her some twisted form of diplomatic immunity +5.

Miku stopped twirling the pencil. She would, after all, need it to write. She tore a shred of paper from her notebook and scratched some words down, passing the new note to Luka with a small smile. Quite the charmer, there.

The pink-haired girl timidly accepted the note like a shy child, though her face was more mature than Miku's. She seemed reluctant to unfold the note, clearly fearing another attack to her self-esteem.

Slowly, Luka Megurine unfolded the scrap of paper in her hand. When its contents were revealed - before they were legible, however - she flinched, wrenching her eyes shut, apparently not willing to read its contents. It seemed she didn't get much interaction with others aside from admittedly verbose insults to her sexuality, so all she knew of notes was that they most definitely contained words of offense. Sometimes wads of gum, from what Miku had seen.

She inhaled deeply and opened her eyes, scanning over the paper once to make sure it wasn't another one of those insulting notes, then read it properly.

"Hey Luka," was scribbled onto the paper, notably hastily, along with, "How's it going? Write something back, pleaaaase! Class is sooo booooring."

Admittedly, Miku didn't need to write down those extra vowels. It probably got across the impression of an airhead, though. Probably.

Something dropped down from Luka's chin and dampened that little scrap of paper. Miku knew that Luka's eyes were watering. Obviously, she wasn't insulted by Miku's words - well, directly anyways - so the teal-haired girl concluded that Luka was having one of _those_ times. Miku'd felt that way before. She'd felt the claws of despair reaching for her throat, threatening to strangle her, in those times when she was supposed to feel peaceful, happy. It was like she was feeling guilty for her contentment, being punished for enjoying life.

She'd grown since that time. For better or worse, Miku didn't know, but she'd changed from seeing every ray of hope as an abyss of despair, every helping hand as a pointing finger. Instead, she only saw gray. Not like it mattered. That was more color than most people ever could see.

It was time for intervention. For some reason, Miku felt the need to protect this girl from the shades of gray and black. She wanted to keep Luka Megurine pure white. Miku reached her hand out to Luka's desk, gazing up at her earnestly, as if she was in need of a reply. The teacher would likely notice, but attention wasn't a problem. Another dumbass falling into the same hole she was in was the problem.

Luka removed her face from her desk and looked up at Miku, eyes still watering. Her face was smothered in desperation, despite the relatively normal classroom setting.

"U-um," she stammered, not quite able to form coherent thoughts. "The teacher will, uh, n-notice."

At this point, the teacher still had her back to the class, totally absorbed in whatever crazy jargon she was sputtering onto the whiteboard. There was still time to get Luka to trust her, Miku decided.

"Doesn't matter," she whispered. "You were supposed to respond using the note, by the way."

Miku forced a cutesy giggle. Her voice box rioted against this display, her facial muscles screaming at her to _stop smiling for the love of all that is good_, but for some reason, it all came out fine.

Luka shrank into her seat. A look of consternation passed over her face before she went back to the note and scribbled something on that little scrap. She handed it under the desk to her teal-haired classmate.

The note wasn't even folded when Miku brought it behind her textbook to read. Apparently, Luka had no knowledge of note-passing etiquette. She must have been a total honor student in former grades. The note was a little damp, but legible, which was surprising, considering how tiny the pinkette's writing was.

"Hello," the note read.

Just a hello? Really? Miku inwardly sighed. This was probably going to take a while. She wrote back to Luka, whose expression blanked out when she opened the note.

"I really wanna be your friend!"

Luka looked back toward Miku and nodded. It seemed she could sense fellow social outcasts, and, for some reason, gravitated towards her fellow anti-socialites. This was not the norm. Really, it was weird. In any case, though, Miku decided to take an aggressive stance. She practically flung another note at Luka.

"Let's hang out after school!"

The exclamation points were a little too much. Luka didn't seem to mind, however, as she nodded back again. A bit more reluctantly this time. It was fine. Miku hoped she'd be a positive influence rather than a negative one. This happened to bother her through the rest of the school day.

"So," said Miku, "how do you like the ice cream here?"

Luka shifted nervously, her posture still hunched a bit. Judging from her seated posture, though, she stood upright at home.

"Umm... This isn't an ice cream parlor," she replied, if a bit quietly.

"I know, but you ordered ice cream."

The girl with the hair strangely reminiscent of an extremely cute, pink octopus sighed. She seemed to withdraw even further into whatever bubble was holding her in. After all, Miku was asking her about the ice cream she hadn't even touched yet.

"I-I'll try it," Luka answered hesitantly.

"All right!" Miku exclaimed. "Now, say aaaah."

She held a spoonful of ice cream in front of Luka's face, attempting to bait her with it like a fisherman would bait a catfish with a delicious worm. Notably, this was _very_ aggressive behavior. Miku wanted to make some real progress before she had another attack. Exactly what she wanted to progress with was worthy of suspicion, but Miku assured herself it was entirely innocent and knightly behavior.

According to Luka, this behavior wasn't innocent and knightly. Or that's what the goofy expression and blush on her face said.

Luka herself said something, too. "So, uh, what am I supposed to do with t... this?"

It was obvious! Miku nearly slammed her fist on the table in righteous disbelief. Was this girl so innocent? Had she not watched a single drama or anime?! There was nothing that could be done for such a paragon of purity. Nothing at all. Except maybe clarifying verbally.

"Haha, what? You're supposed to let me feed you. Those rumors really are fake!" Miku snorted. She waved the spoon in front of Luka's face, beckoning the young minnow to be baited by the anglerfish.

Luka swallowed. She also fidgeted. At this point, she'd probably make up any excuse to get out of such an embarrassing situation. But in this case, she didn't have to make anything up.

"Is this because you believe those rumors?" Luka said quietly. The spoon was still dangling in front of her face, the neapolitan ice cream starting to melt. A little pooled at the edge.

"Why would I believe those?" asked Miku. "You don't look like you'd have such low standards." A droplet of liquid ice cream beaded on the spoon's lip.

"Because I _am _a lesbian."

The spoon dropped from Miku's hand. Her grip failed, as her hands were trembling too intensely to hold anything. By the time the spoon hit the table and permeated the table with melted ice cream, Miku was standing up. Thankfully, only a few people turned their heads at what she yelled next.

"Seriously?"

At some point between exclaiming this and taking a breath, Miku realized she was attracting attention and sat down. Her next words were definitely more muted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to attract so much attention," she whispered. "So, uh, when'd you realize this?"

Luka slumped in her seat. "That's a bit personal."

"What? I don't mind that you're gay! It sounds cute. I wanna know."

A film of sadness passed over Luka's eyes - they lost their shine and became ~bathed in a cloudy dullness~ for just a second. Once she blinked, that film disappeared and a teardrop slid down her cheek. She wiped her eyes and motioned Miku not to offer her ice cream-drenched napkin.

"It's not a happy story," said Luka. "It's not even sad."

Miku still leaned over in an interested pose. She wanted to listen to whatever happened in Luka's life, especially if she could glean insight off it. Even if it was still unclear why Miku suddenly gained an interest in a classmate she'd talked to very rarely before.

In response, Luka's face fell a bit in irritation, which was amusing, considering how it seemed impossible for Luka to express such a cynical emotion.

"Well," she said while wiping up the ice cream with her meager pile of napkins, "I fell in love with my friend's sister when I was fourteen."

Miku's eyes widened, and she was overcome with the desire to exclaim "That's hardcore!" Even so, she remained silent.

"I didn't act on it. Nothing happened. That friend and I lost contact within a few months because she thought I was acting strange. Of course I was acting strange. Her sister was always there when I came over. I-I couldn't help it; I was nervous."

Miku leaned her head on her arm. Her elbow, in turn, leaned into the table. She uttered a sigh and sat up straight again, helping Luka wipe up the quickly spreading mess of ice cream. A silly thought crossed her mind, which she found very clever.

"I think we should get rid of the big glob of ice cream that's melting and spreading the rest everywhere," Miku said.

Luka looked blankly into Miku's eyes. "What?"

"We should go out and get rid of the big problem. Mainly the ice cream."

Once again, Luka's stare fogged hazily. "What?"

"I know it's sudden and it's completely on a whim, but screw being friends. Let's go out," Miku replied with entirely too much nonchalance.

The pinkette looked extremely confused. Forget the "but we're both girls" thing - Miku had never shown even the slightest bit of interest in her before, aside from the occasional chit-chat during a group activity. The obvious question to ask was asked. "Why?"

"Well," Miku said as she scooped up the entirety of the globule of ice cream in a napkin, "remember that time you spilled corn syrup all over my uniform?"

Luka shook her head "no."

Miku put on a face of disappointment, though she really was disappointed. Normally people remembered who she was, even after just one glance, citing, say, her teal hair. Luka was definitely out of it. "Well, you kept apologizing and offering to wash my clothes for me. Then you were all, 'Take your clothes off!' and I panicked, called you a pervert or something, you apologized some more. It was cute. So I'm figuring right now, if that stuck in my head, maybe..."

Miku paused for dramatic effect.

"... maybe you'll stick in my heart." A huge grin spread over Miku's face. That was just way too corny to pass. In fact, she felt a little sick from saying it.

Even so, she was instantly cured of this illness by how many conflicted emotions spread over Luka's face at once. It was _adorable_. It was also unfathomable how the other school_children_ could possibly decide to single out Luka for their bullying attempts when she was this damned cute.

When Luka finally responded to the horrible pickup line, her face was hued a nice red. "D-did I really say that?" She seemed to disbelieve that she could be so bold.

"Well, I took it out of context, but..." Miku paused. "Well, you were kind of panicked. Your face was about as red as it is now."

The teal (cyan?)-haired schoolgirl was snickering inside. Somehow, teasing others was surprisingly amusing.

"I-I guess I could," said Luka. "Go out with you, I mean."

"For real?" Miku exclaimed. "So it's official? We're dating?"

Luka nodded, a timid smile consuming her facial expression. Miku shook her head twice, pointing at Luka's newborn smile-baby. To tell the truth, Miku was slightly irritated. She had to correct this error in the continuum of existence, right that moment.

"You're happy, right? Grin wider, then."

Luka blushed, and genuinely grinned - for the first time in a while.

Computer science was boring too. At least there was the promise of checking e-mails and browsing the most inert websites in existence to pass the time. The filter was primitive. It was all rather old-fashioned. The teacher even still used a whiteboard, for some reason, despite having a perfectly fine projector. The top left corner of the whiteboard contained his name: Gakupo Kamui. Also known as the teacher who was a womanizing scumbag when he wasn't poring over endless miles of code.

Luka now sat next to Miku in class, as in compliance with a request for a seat change. Luka stated, not without a lot of stuttering, that "The other kids are bullying me, plus Miku is good at this and can help me." Which, of course, wasn't untrue, but there were indeed ulterior motives. Luka used to sit near Gakupo. Miku had to protect her from the purple-haired creep. Even if Gakupo'd already hit on her a few times.

The two schoolgirls were chatting with each other over a client Miku programmed and installed on the school servers. It was a simple instant messenger that read from a text file and deleted the log after each session. Miku, who wasn't feeling at all involved with the world, also checked a few news websites and unblocked bulletin boards. Most of them were overflowing with casual talk and news of a shooting that occurred in the next district. The perpetrator took his own life after killing or wounding five other boys.

The fact that such casual talk and the subject of recent news blended together so seamlessly disgusted Miku. The world _was_ gray, it seemed, and she could do nothing to change it.

Two messages blipped onscreen, freeing Miku from her brief reverie.

Octopussy: Are you feeling alright, Miku?

Octopussy: You look a little sick. ;_;

These words were strangely comforting - a warmth spread from Miku's chest to her facial muscles, and she couldn't help but smirk.

Hachune: yeah, I'm alright.

Hachune: Just read something really gross.

Hachune: You should really do something about that screen name though

Luka leaned towards the monitor, her nose barely touching the instant messenger console, also known as the screen. Her mouth was spread agape in absolute disbelief.

Octopussy: But it's cute, right?

Octopussy: Imagine a cute little pink cat with eight legs.

Hachune: …

Hachune: no, no, that's besides the point.

Hachune: you

Hachune: uh

Hachune: Some people might read it as

Hachune: as

Octopussy: Oh

Hachune: yeah

Octopussy has signed off.

TunaPiano has signed on.

TunaPiano: Is this better?

Hachune: I'm... not sure.

Gakupo continued rambling. It was something about how pointers just want to die when utilized by Java students. He hated interpreted languages, and was a zealot in the name of C++. Languages that weren't compiled or assembled were simply _heresy_. Not that half the students in the class even knew what he meant.

Hachune: What is he even talking about?

TunaPiano: idk

TunaPiano: anyways

TunaPiano: My parents want to meet you

Hachune: You told them about us?!

TunaPiano: That I made a friend

TunaPiano: yes :P

Hachune: oh

Hachune: phew

TunaPiano: yeah so

TunaPiano: Do you want to come over?

Hachune: oh, sure! But are your parents the crazy type?

TunaPiano: looool no, it'll be fine

Miku smiled. She put her fingers to work at the keyboard, because there was something she wanted to say.

Hachune: I've never seen you laugh before

Hachune: lol

TunaPiano: well you still haven't SEEN me laugh lol

Hachune: ~

Gakupo finished his lecture about how GOTO was a horrible command for scrubs and demanded everyone remember to do the homework. He followed this preamble with a very loud cough and announced his contempt for his class.

"It has been brought to my attention that an instant messenger has been installed on the school server, and that many students use it. In fact, I know for a fact that at least half of this class uses it instead of listening to my lectures. From tomorrow on, I will be tracking which account accesses this executable, so please stop.

He continued, this time praising an unknown.

"Whoever designed this and installed it, though, you have my respect. It is simple, but effective, and you have avoided arrest thus far. Not that I encourage that! Anyways, you can go now. Even if the bell hasn't rung. If only to get you to stop chatting."

Hachune: eww, I don't want his respect

"Byeee claaaass!

**A/N: I decided to release this before it was "finished." It was originally supposed to be a ~7k word long chapter with a very... ahh, predictable but abrupt ending, but I need to get a certain other writer to finish their Yukari/IA fic, and what's better pressure than releasing a fic first?**


End file.
